How to Trick Yourself Into Retiring a Multimillionaire

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Most of us are really bad at thinking about and planning for our retirement. Only a third of Americans contribute to employer-provided 401(k) accounts, and about half have no retirement savings at all. Lots of forces are working against us when it comes to saving for the future. For one, retirement feels far away and completely unattainable. After bills, student loans, and rent, we want to spend what we have left on fun things we can enjoy right now. Even for savers, it can be hard to build the best financial habits—or even know what they might be.

But never fear: The behavioral economists can save us. See, it’s not our fault we’re bad at saving—we’re wired to make poor retirement decisions. At least that’s what Steve Wendel, a behavioral scientist, tells Rebecca and Francesca on this week’s episode of Game Plan. Wendel teaches us how to take advantage of our shortcomings as humans and trick ourselves into becoming supersavers.

To contact the authors of this story: Rebecca Greenfield in New York at rgreenfield@bloomberg.net, Francesca Levy in New York at flevy6@bloomberg.net.

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